DIY Chairs

Hello Everyone and happy spring time!

The husband and I have just moved into our new apartment right in the heart of beautiful historic Schaffhausen (post to follow soon). The location could not be more perfect, with the emerald green Rhein river and lots of lovely shops, cafes and bars right at our doorstep.
As Swiss apartments come completely unfurnished, I've set myself the challenge (I know, me and my challenges) to make, up-cycle and re-use as much of our furniture as possible. You can all look forward to a couple of DIY Home posts! Up first: chairs...
In Switzerland, there's lots of these handy second-hand shops called Brockenhäuser selling literally everything from used furniture to electric appliances, children's toys or musical equipment. They are usually run by charities like the Salvation Army and super cheap... (unless you go to Zurich, where hipsters have pushed prices up big time).

So for this project, I got a bunch of old, unremarkable-looking wooden chairs from our local Brockenhaus. I am hoping to give them a cool distressed look to match my grand vision of a retro-industrial-apartment.
If you like the result and want to try it yourself, all you need is:
- sanding paper
- an electric sander, if you can get your hands on one
- wood paint, primer and paint brushes

I sanded down the first chair, making sure to take off all the varnish and leaving the surfaced a bit roughened up, which will allow the paint to stick better. I used an electric sander for as much as possible - it makes your life so much easier - but the fine parts I had to do by hand using plain old sandpaper. If you're going to paint the chair later you don't need to sand it all down to an even finish, so don't worry if it looks patchy.

After sanding I wiped the chair down with a wet cloth, making sure to remove all the sawdust. I then based it with the primer. As there was no dark grey primer in the shops, I mixed black and white paint and added a little bit of water to create my own primer. You will probably have to base it twice, if not three times to cover the wood fully. Make sure to leave enough time to allow the paint to dry.

left: chair with dark grey primer, right: after applying light grey top coat

To achieve the vintage distressed look I used light grey paint and roughly painted over the now dark grey chair. I made sure to let the paint brush run dry, creating the brush pattern and leaving the dark grey to peak through. If I accidentally covered the dark-grey too much, I used a blunt knife to scrape off some of the light grey paint again.
And finished was my first retro dining room chair!

Before                                                                                                          After

I'm so pleased with the result and can't wait to get started on these guys... I'll update once they're all done...

Easy Lace Collar Necklace

Happy New Year every one! I'm starting out 2014 with a bit of DIY, sharing with you this lace collar necklace I made last year. This post is only going to be in English as it should all be quite simple, but German readers don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Tools & Equipment

So first off, here's what you'll need to make this necklace:

Tools:

- Scissors

- Needle & thread

- Eyelet punch (or bolt & hammer)

- Gluegun & superglue

Equipment:

- Felt

- Eyelets

- Beads, rhinestones, sequins etc.

- Lace

- Ribbon or yarn

Out of the felt cut out two identical sickle shapes to make up either side of the collar. These are your top layers and the ones to be decorated. To prepare them, punch an eyelet through the end of each sickle. This is where the ribbon or yarn will be fastened onto the collar to create the necklace. If you have one, use an eyelet punch, but punching through felt is really easy so I just used the little applicator bolt that came with the pack and a hammer. Your collar pieces are now ready to be decorated. 

Step 1: Stitch on the Lace

Cut out a piece of lace to roughly match the shape of your collar pieces. Then, folding the lace around the felt, stitch it onto the base. Don't make your stitches too big, or they are likely to crumple or pull the fabric together. My piece of lace was not bit enough to cover the entire felt, so I sewed on another separate piece. Leave the eyelet uncovered of course. 

Step 2: Decorate 

If you want you can add a bit of sparkle to your necklace. I chose these mint blue sequins, which I sewed on as well, and some nice black rhinestones to highlight the flowers on my lace. I glued the rhinestones on using superglue and not the glue gun as it's not as precise and you're likely to end up with a big blob of glue in the middle of your necklace. 

Step 3: Back it up

The front of your collar is now done and looking pretty. The back, however, still shows all the stitching and left-over lace. To cover it and to make the piece more stable we need to back it. Cut out another identical sickle shape out of your felt - I used rougher, stronger felt for this - and glue it on using the glue gun. Then do the same with the other side of the collar. 

Step 4: Assemble

To assemble the necklace you can simply sew it together at the front. If you want to hide the stitching you can glue a rhinestone onto it or sew on a button to connect the two pieces. The good thing about this is, that the necklace will remain flexible. Then thread a piece of ribbon or yarn through each eyelet, tie it and finished is your statement collar necklace. Perfect to add sparkle to an old outfit.

All that remains doing now is wearing it. Mine was a gift for my lovely sister, who was kind enough to model it for the post. I think it looks great on her...

I hope you liked my little tutorial. Of course you can decorate your felt base any way you want... give your creativity free reign! I would love to see what you come up with!

Make Do and Mend: How to revamp your old clothes

Original cover of the "Make do and Mend" 

booklet first published in 1943 by His 

Majesty's stationery office

This week on the blog we are trying our hand at some DIY clothes altering! If you're like me, then you have lots of clothes clogging up your wardrobe that never see the light of day... but rather than throw them away the next time you clean our your wardrobe or move house, why not turn them into something useful and wearable? It's all part of a more sustainable way of living, and it also saves money! So for this blog I was inspired by the old war time slogan to Make do and Mend.
I didn't quite do it on my own though, I have to admit. Luckily, the lovely Emma from Recycle Boutique NI was hosting a pop up shop and DIY fashion workshop in Cafe Wah in Belfast. So apart from getting expert advice, I was also fueled with excellent and incredibly cheap coffee!
Recycle Boutique Northern Ireland is a great initiative that helps to reduce waist by re-selling and re-cycling your old clothes. Emma will take on your once-loved garments and sell them on at her pop up shop events or recycle them into something new and exciting. And here's the best bit: 50% of the profits from your clothes go directly into your pocket!

Here's the dress I decided to upcycle. I bought this dress a few years ago in Dunnes, but I very rarely wore it. It was just too much powder pink all at once. So I decided to turn it into a skirt.

What I used:

All I needed for this revamp was:

- elastic band

- white thread & needle

- pins

- scissors

- use of a sowing machine

- cream elastic lace

What I did:

I simply cut off the top half of the dress above the waist line, making sure to leave enough room for a hem. I then measured and cut off a strap of elastic band to be fit inside the new top hem and pinned it in place. Next I sowed on the elastic band (not having the hem folded over yet). Big thanks to Emma for letting me use her sewing machine! Unfortunately my sewing skills proved a little rusty and the stitching turned out rather wonky... I then pulled the rest of the fabric over the elastic, pinned it and stitched it to form the hem. 

To cover up the wonky stitching on the hem I got some elastic cream lace and hand stitched it over the hem. And voila: one dress turned into a skirt with elastic waistband, that I can now combine with a variety of different tops and colours! Like this white blouse for instance:

To link in with creativity month Recycle Boutique NI are hosting some more free DIY fashion workshop throughout March. Check their facebook or follow them on twitter to find out more.

But let's not stop there. Here are some more great recycle and DIY fashion tips...

Don't know what to do with that pair of white pants you never wear? My beautiful and very creative friend Emily decided to give hers some funk by printing diamond shaped polka dots on them. Go over to Emily's Blog From China Village to find out how she did it!

Emily wearing her funky polka dot pants

Got a bunch of old T-shirts lying around? Head over to Brit + Co to learn how to turn them into these awesome tote bags:

And if you really just have unusable clothes and scraps of fabric left over, why not try and make them into a cute heart shape garland? It's dead easy, check out this article to find out everything you need to know.

DIY garland by Kirstie Allsopp

Do you feel inspired? I certainly do! I had a great time at the recycle workshop... Although I doubt that mending and making do was as much fun during World War II as it is today... in case you're interested, you can find some fascinating memories of what it was like on BBC's website.